A Response to Those Who Claim That Kissing a Non-Mahram Woman Is Erased by Seeking Forgiveness

Question:
What is Your Eminence’s response to those who say: that kissing a non-mahram woman and taking from her everything except fornication is a sin that seeking forgiveness washes away?

Answer:
This is abominable, and persisting in it becomes a major sin, and of the major sins, seeking forgiveness does not remove it, and nothing removes it except repentance. So if he kisses her without right, while she is not a mahram to him, or touches her, or does something similar to that, then nothing erases it except repentance. And the sin of persisting in it is a major sin. We ask Allah for safety.
If he repents to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and does not persist, and regrets it, or he maintains the five daily prayers and Friday prayer from Friday to Friday, and Ramadan from Ramadan to Ramadan, and avoids major sins, Allah will forgive him the minor sins in which he did not persist. But if he persists in them, they become major sins. We seek refuge in Allah; repentance is necessary in them.